The Senate summoned Bismillah Mohammadi, the Minister of Defense, and Mohammad Omer Daudzai, the recently appointed Acting Interior Minister, on Tuesday to discuss security issues in the country and plans to address them ahead of the spring elections.
Reportedly, Mr. Mohammadi blamed unspecified foreign intelligence agencies for what has been described as a deteriorating security situation in the country. It has become a common practice for Afghan officials to make vague claims about foreign interests seeking to prevent Afghan peace and stability. Mr. Mohammadi continued that trend on Tuesday when he said foreign intelligence agencies were looking to derail the upcoming Presidential and Provincial elections.
Mohammad Omer Daudzai, the Acting Interior Minister, also expressed his concerns with the country's security situation and said that it is the biggest obstacle ahead of the elections. However, the former Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan, a country frequently said to be orchestrating a covert war against Afghanistan while feigning support for peace, did not lob any accusations against foreign governments.
The two men had much to discuss with the Senators gathered on Tuesday. With security issues being the top concern surrounding preparations for the April elections, the two top security officials of the Afghan government have had the spotlight thrust on them with expectations bearing down.
Many of Senators' concerns were related to security in the more rural areas of the country, where voter registration centres were unable to be opened and many eligible voters remain without voting cards.
"Security is worse in the majority of districts," said Senator Dawood Asas, the head of the Homeland Security and Defense Committee. "If you are talking about the capitals of the provinces, they are where foreign bases located - security will obviously be good there. What about the remote areas?"
The two ministers acknowledged the abounding threats, maintained that establishing security for the elections was their top priority.
"This year the insurgents tried to take control of the highways, cities and the administrative centres. We are trying to secure things before the elections," Mr. Mohammadi said.
"If security is not assured, holding the elections will be tough," Mr. Daudzai said.
According to a recent survey conducted by the firm Assess, Transform and Reach Consulting in five provinces, when respondents were asked whether or not they thought elections should be cancelled if they could not take place in several districts of a province due to insecurity, 61 percent said no, 18 percent said yes and 8 percent said maybe. In contrast, however, when asked if the elections should be cancelled if they could not be held in "most insecure areas of the country," 51 percent of respondents said yes and only 17 percent said no, with 22 percent answering maybe.
The elections are scheduled to take place on April 5, but security remains a major challenge for the Afghan authorities and the major issue of concern for the public. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has not been shy in expressing its concern that insecurity, or even just the perception of it, could keep voters from heading to the polls. A low voter turnout is feared by most experts as they say it could cast a shadow of illegitimacy over the election results.
Thus in the case of the upcoming elections, Afghanistan will in many ways see the fate of its fragile political system decided by the degree of success it is able to have in what has been a long-time struggle to improve the country's security situation.